Metro Tales: Music for the Soul

This is a story that every Delhi metro commuter has witnessed for sure. A person travelling alone, armed with headphones, probably in one or the other corner that they can snag before anyone else. This is a common scene at any given time in the day. I say this with conviction because I am one of them. Spending years travelling in the metro has definitely improved my appreciation of the privacy that headphones can give you in a crowded location.

How to know if someone wearing headphones is as engrossed in the music as it looks? There are some simple things to notice, certain characteristics that distinguish them from other passengers:
the silently, sometimes not so silently, moving lips; the tapping foot or the tapping hand; the head nodding, and sometimes a slight body sway as well. Losing yourself in the music is an easy task, but when travelling in metro, it is meant for so much more.

Music is an escape. It can be from the the loud conversations you are not a part of, hushed sweet nothings shared between couples, arguments you don't want to get involved in, or the general chaos of the crowd. Headphones in your ears give you the choice of cranking up the volume and forgetting the fact that you are being jostled between people you don't know and who have no qualms in using your body as an anchor. It is music that lets people handle long travel hours on a bad day,  or help them face an early morning travel when your brain just refuses to wake up.

Photo Courtesy: www.livemint.com

My personal favourite use of headphones is to avoid and ignore.

I do not like aunties. I am not generalizing, but you will know them anywhere because they are loud and they are intrusive! Putting on my headphones gives me the best excuse to ignore their looks and comments. Not blaming all the aunties on the metro here, but there are definitely some who you can't help but cringe away from. Another thing it helps me in is to keep my seat when I am damn tired and lucky enough to get one. If my eyes are closed I can't see you and if I have my headphones on I can't hear you. I'm tired and I am a bit lazy, sue me for thinking about myself sometimes! Even then I have had my shoulder jostled just for an aunty to ask me to "adjust." I will gladly give my seat if you are a person in need, but please don't ask me to adjust. That's just encroaching on my personal space and is not appreciated. 

To avoid making this only a rant, I believe I can give an accurate description of how it is on the other sound. The head banging and foot tapping is amusing from afar, but if it keeps jostling me, the amusement turns into frustration. Blocking every noise also blocks the polite requests, and ignoring them only makes you (me) seems like a snob.

What is clear from all the above ranting on my part is that music is part and parcel of the Delhi metro. It is something that either you choose for yourself or you suffer, or not, with a fellow passenger. The somber announcements are just not enough to pass the time or enjoy it.